Marqeta (NASDAQ:MQ) Upgraded to “Strong-Buy” at Zacks Research

Marqeta (NASDAQ:MQ) was upgraded by research analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Marqeta from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. UBS Group raised their price target on Marqeta from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of Marqeta from $4.50 to $18.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Marqeta from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Marqeta presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $19.75.

Marqeta Price Performance

MQ opened at $16.47 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $16.43 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $16.38. The company has a market capitalization of $1.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 149.73 and a beta of 1.30. Marqeta has a fifty-two week low of $14.80 and a fifty-two week high of $25.85.

Marqeta (NASDAQ:MQ) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported $0.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.01 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $176.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $172.96 million. Marqeta had a net margin of 1.53% and a return on equity of 1.36%. The company’s revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Marqeta will post 0.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Marqeta

In other news, CRO Todd Pollak sold 18,750 shares of Marqeta stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.88, for a total value of $316,500.00. Following the sale, the executive directly owned 185,008 shares in the company, valued at $3,122,935.04. This trade represents a 9.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Elaine Paul sold 4,537 shares of Marqeta stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.20, for a total transaction of $68,962.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 8,900 shares in the company, valued at $135,280. The trade was a 33.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 13.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. AQR Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Marqeta during the first quarter worth about $57,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its holdings in Marqeta by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 279,103 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,150,000 after buying an additional 9,319 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its stake in shares of Marqeta by 7.6% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 925,547 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,813,000 after acquiring an additional 65,313 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Marqeta by 22.1% during the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 288,114 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,187,000 after purchasing an additional 52,219 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Marqeta by 8.1% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,268,848 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,547,000 after buying an additional 471,631 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.64% of the company’s stock.

About Marqeta

Marqeta is a modern card issuing and payment processing platform that enables businesses to design, launch and manage customized payment cards. The company offers a fully programmable open API that allows clients to create virtual, physical and tokenized payment cards with real-time transaction controls and dynamic spend limits. By leveraging Marqeta’s infrastructure, companies can streamline their payment operations, reduce time to market and deliver tailored payment experiences to end consumers.

Founded in 2010 and headquartered in Oakland, California, Marqeta was established by CEO Jason Gardner with the goal of transforming traditional card issuance through cloud-native technology.